Huánglù wǔlǎo dàowáng yí 黃籙五老悼亡儀
Liturgy of the Five Elders’ Mourning of the Dead in the Yellow-Register Fast
About the work
Companion to KR5b0213 (with which it shares a single physical fascicle: 二儀同卷場二). Within the six-part Huánglù salvation series DZ 509–514, this work continues Chǎng 2 (“venue 2”). The Wǔlǎo 五老 (“Five Elders”) are the five primordial-qì deities of the five directions — Cāngdì 蒼帝 of the east, Chìdì 赤帝 of the south, Báidì 白帝 of the west, Hēidì 黑帝 of the north, Huángdì 黄帝 of the centre — drawn from the cosmological theology of the Língbǎo wǔfú xù (KR5a0008) and the Língbǎo wǔlǎo tradition.
Abstract
The opening fú-yǐ 伏以 (preamble) explicates the cosmic schema: from the undifferentiated hùn-yuán 混元 the One-Pneuma issues; with the polarisation of the tài-jí 太極 the sān-cái 三才 (Heaven, Earth, Humanity) are configured and the wǔ-jí 五極 (five poles) take their positions. The deceased is bound by the wǔ-zhuó 五濁 (five turbidities, the kleśa-equivalents in Daoist register), wǔ-yùn 五蘊 (five aggregates), wǔ-yīn 五音, wǔ-wèi 五味, wǔ-sè 五色, wǔ-yù 五慾, and finally subject to the wǔ-kǔ 五苦 (five sufferings) of the è-qù 惡趣. The rite invokes each of the Five Elders in turn to release the deceased from the corresponding category of bondage. The mourning hymns (tì-jié 吟偈) are addressed sequentially to the heavenly powers, the fēng-dū 鄷都 and dài-yuè-fǔ 岱嶽府 underworld bureaus, and the watery / aquatic-spirit realms — covering all three regions in which souls may be detained.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. 2: 1011 (DZ 511, entry by John Lagerwey).